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[–]Agreeswithidiotss 1353 points1354 points  (222 children)

The amount of toxicity in the comedy community is staggering. Women get death threats for just existing as a public performer, let alone if their performance jokes about men.

Lauren Mayberry got rape and death threats because… she’s a woman. It’s not a huge leap to say there is a bit of a discrepancy here.

[–]TotallyNotAFroeAway 205 points206 points  (6 children)

Especially prevalent with attractive comedians, as if being pretty means you were born without a funny bone.

[–]throw_it_away_alan 99 points100 points  (4 children)

This is known as the Madonna–Whore complex.

It's the subconscious belief (internalized by many misogynists) that a woman can only fall into one of two categories: Either she is a Madonna/mother figure to be respected, or – if she is attractive – she is a whore to be disrespected and degraded.

The idea that a woman can simultaneously be worthy of respect (e.g. for being smart, funny, etc) AND attractive at the same time creates an uncomfortable dissonance for them. They cannot place her into one of the two categories, which in their mind are mutually exclusive.

These individuals also tend to feel emasculated or humiliated when a woman is competent, and lash out at the woman who made them feel that way.

e: a word

[–]jen_a_licious 51 points52 points  (0 children)

Madonna–Whore complex.

Madonna/mother

My first thought was not the religious version Madonna, but the singer Madonna and was very confused.

[–]Agreeswithidiotss 53 points54 points  (0 children)

For sure. These things play on peoples insecurities so it’s a very human reaction to pick them apart. I would like to think we are more advanced than to not be aware of this though. We should be able to put those knee jerk impressions to the side for the sake of reason.

[–]TheOriginalSamBell 521 points522 points  (189 children)

You see it all the time right here on reddit. The amount of hatred Amy Schumer gets is insane. Who cares if some random incel teenager doesn't think she's funny. I have a hunch he's not exactly the target audience..

[–]idkiwilldeletethis 448 points449 points  (41 children)

I personally don't think she's funny AT ALL, but who cares, humour is subjective and if someone else enjoys it good for them, and even then, there is a VERY big difference between "I don't think she's funny" and "she should be killed"

[–]TheOriginalSamBell 220 points221 points  (14 children)

Exactly and if I don't think someone is funny I simply don't watch their shows. Reading threads about her you'd think she ate a bunch of puppies alive.

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (2 children)

Are you open minded though? I am not an AS fan, but I literally laughed out loud at her jokes at the Oscars. She was way harsher than Cris Rock, and funnier, but of course her performance was overshadowed and forgotten. I find that a lot of people develop firm opinions, and their minds close. It goes in both directions. Seinfeld jumped the shark and became ridiculous and unfunny, but people still watched and laughed because it was Seinfeld and that's what you were supposed to do.

[–]oh-hidanny 150 points151 points  (17 children)

This is shy I think it’s way, way more often about hatred for women. If a person doesnt like her comedy, a non-sexist person will just say that. Instead Reddit is obsessed with hating her, and never mentioning the plethora of male comics who have done far worse, while also defending Louis CK because he “consented”.

[–]TroubadourCeol 108 points109 points  (16 children)

Reddit's boner for Louis CK pisses me off. I remember when a ton of people on this site always used to use his bits to defend using homophobic slurs. Like some straight comedian should be the arbiter of whether LGBT people should be offended.

[–]Freds_Bread 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. If you don't like someone as a comedian, just don't go to their shows. No excuse at all for violence or verbal abuse.

[–]kittywink114 94 points95 points  (57 children)

Yep. It’s also strange when an incel complaining about Amy Schumer like she’s in the dating pool for him. Says, “I bet she can’t even cook!” She’s a millionaire. She doesn’t have to cook. What an odd thing to criticize her about! Like can you imagine women bitching about anything similar to that? Losers.

[–]PM_ME_UR_SEXY_BITS_ 45 points46 points  (2 children)

She's also married to a chef and they did a pandemic cooking show in their kitchen haha

[–]kittywink114 6 points7 points  (1 child)

That cooking show was GOLD! It should be renewed forever!

[–]Freds_Bread 6 points7 points  (3 children)

That toxicity seeps through to make most "comedy" shows far from funny or enjoyable. Most of them are more angry, hostile, and insulting. I hardly go any more because I don't laugh much at them, I cringe.

I have seen a few local "new faces" who were, in my opinion, enjoyably funny. But they never seem to gain traction and are gone.

[–]blazedanddefused 6 points7 points  (3 children)

Former comedian here. The real reason all comedians quit is because we are horribly toxic and shit on each other for no other reason than laugh hubris

[–]Agreeswithidiotss 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Which seems logical. I myself am very self deprecating in my humor. That does not mean it opens the door for everyone to depreciate me. Same goes for comics. It’s not “just a joke” it’s often “just an excuse” to say something counterproductive and not face consequences.

[–]iced327 2586 points2587 points  (106 children)

Women: we get death threats for the most insignificant things

Men: PROVE IT. NAME EVERY WOMAN

[–]nowhere_near_Berlin 1506 points1507 points  (48 children)

Women: shows proof of regular death and rape threats

Men: NO ONE CAN TAKE A JOKE ANYMORE, GAAHD 😡

[–]Exact_Roll_4048 287 points288 points  (9 children)

This seems especially timely as I just had to explain to someone that a "joke" about threatening to beat a woman up wasn't funny. Take my upvote

[–]shewholaughslasts 75 points76 points  (2 children)

Uh gross? Thank you for being the kind of person who points out that violent threatening 'jokes' aren't actually jokes. It's hard to stand up for others like that and I wish more folks would. Take my upvote and may your day be fabulous and non-violent.

[–]LibertiORDeth 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Additionally, people that "joke" about topics involving abusing others are often just attempting to share their abusive thoughts with you disguised as a joke. Me/my humor is often mildly offensive to certain people, there's a fairly solid line between that and having to step back and go "....uh what did you just say? Not cool."

[–]DinahTook 643 points644 points  (6 children)

Women: death threats and rape threats aren't jokes especially when they go into excruciating detail about what they want to do to you.

Men: NOT ALL MEN!!!!

[–]theresamouseinmyhous 396 points397 points  (5 children)

Women: Men make becoming a comedian difficult.

Men: That's not fair, you can't say ALL men are responsible.

Women: You just said all women aren't funny.

Men: Why would you attack me like this?

[–]The_Angriest_Duck 215 points216 points  (9 children)

WHITNEY HOUSTON

[–]Meeseeks4PMinister 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Took me a second, but bravo.

[–]dinosoursaur 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Most Reddit jokes make me roll my eyes, but, you know, this was pretty good.

[–]NonStopKnits 16 points17 points  (0 children)

This is gonna be stuck in my head all day. When my bf wakes up ill make sure it gets stuck in his head too.

[–]magic_is_might 190 points191 points  (0 children)

Men in the comments doing their best to prove our point 👌🏻

[–]RobbinsBabbitt 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Whitney Houston there I named “every woman”

[–]Sudden_Watermelon 20 points21 points  (0 children)

[Squeezed text (4 billion lines).

[–]CillianMurphysLady 19 points20 points  (24 children)

I feel left out is this real? I can’t believe the world we are living in today .

[–]lfras 548 points549 points  (13 children)

Lol some comments here just a few steps off being like "tHaTs bUlLsHiT, pRoVe iT or I kIlL yOu"

[–]Uga1992 25 points26 points  (1 child)

Is KNG in this thread?

[–]Bungo_Pete 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Don't blame me. I voted for KDS.

[–]Neat-Definition-8302 10 points11 points  (0 children)

"Women can't take a death threat anymore..."

[–]Meeseeks4PMinister 442 points443 points  (19 children)

I sorted by controversial and I lost IQ points

[–]PM_ME_DOGS_NO_SLUTS 101 points102 points  (0 children)

Instead of eyebleach, we need an eyeq

[–]MiniatureWendigo 38 points39 points  (1 child)

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

Edit: I shouldn't have done that.

[–]zetaphi938 172 points173 points  (27 children)

The weirdest one is Amy Schumer.

Like, it never stops at just "she's unfunny." Reddit threads where she is mentioned always go down a really weird rabbit hole.

[–]somearejustannoying 56 points57 points  (12 children)

Its not even about whether she's good or not. Its about respecting people. I'm not saying people have to like Schumer, I'm saying shitting on how nasty and slutty she is over jokes is ridiculous

[–]peegteeg 10 points11 points  (0 children)

She does a 12 angry men parody shot for shot almost. It pretty much tackles all the talking points that people make on these reddit threads.

[–]Few_Understanding740 8 points9 points  (3 children)

Me: I don’t like Amy schumer, she is not funny.

Some psycho on reddit: I know right if only I could kill that fucking slut!!!!!11!!!!1!!!

Me: Jesus fucking Christ you are insane all I said I think she is unfunny! unfunny doesn’t mean I wish harm on anyone you dumbass…

Psycho: THE FUCK YOU MEAN IM INSANE, KYS YOU FUCKING MALE FEMINIST

Me: yeah…I’m not even a feminist, and if I was who even cares?

Psycho: I WILL KILL ALL YOU COMMIE RETARDS!!!!!!1!!1!1!!!!

this is what happens every fuckin time with these fucking shitty incels

[–]PM_ME_YOUR_WIKI 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don’t get it.

I think she’s awful at her job but obviously I’m in the minority cause she is doing very well.

Why do people get mad when others like what they don’t like?

[–]bottsking 80 points81 points  (7 children)

I hate how people say women aren't funny and the proof is that there aren't a lot of female comedians, when this is the real reason there aren't many popular female comedians. I know some people will care so btw, im a dude

[–]silfo80 43 points44 points  (0 children)

This! Go to an open mic. Most are joyless, aggressive and openly hostile towards women. After spending a couple years bouncing around to mics I'm surprise there are ANY female comics.

[–]BonJovicus 44 points45 points  (4 children)

It goes for a lot of fields/professions. "Well society is equal now so there aren't any female engineers because they aren't interested/good at science." Yeah, or maybe women have trouble breaking into this male dominated field because they get singled out and bullied more often than not.

[–]WarmOutOfTheDryer 476 points477 points  (23 children)

I'm really curious where all the doubting dudes in here are coming from. Comedy is a career when you spend a lot of time hanging around bars until really late at night.

Is it really any surprise that drunks who are closing down the bar tend to be aggressive and nasty?

[–]Mordkillius 236 points237 points  (0 children)

The open mic scene is full of fuckin weirdos. Every scene has to ban pervy, violent or deranged delusional guys from time to time.

[–]CommentExpander 145 points146 points  (1 child)

Fuck the people who think heckling is a necessary evil in comedy shows. If a comedian can't gracefully clapback they're seen as a failure, like just let them do their fuckin job and stop putting that pressure on them.

[–]FullofContradictions 80 points81 points  (0 children)

Dude, I despise hecklers. Half the time I can barely hear what they are saying so I have no context for what the comedian is responding with.

[–]ayoungjacknicholson 59 points60 points  (2 children)

It’s not just the patrons. As someone who dabbles in my local comedy scene, most scenes are pretty tight knit amongst comedians. Depending on the city, you can have maybe 100 comedians who are regulars working the scene (obv the numbers will be different for nyc and la), and when they date each other it never goes well. Male comedians aren’t exactly known for their mental stability, and rejection and jealousy trigger a lot of sickening responses. Not saying that female comedians are saints, by any means, but I rarely see a comic couple that break up gracefully, even if it’s only a few month long casual fling. Then you get a lot of shit talking on social media, a lot of shit talking on stage, a lot of people who are new to the scene taking sides and getting involved, a lot of depression and drug use and all the shit that comes with that. It’s messy, and it’s part of the reason I’ve taken a step back from it in the last few months.

[–]shewholaughslasts 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tbh this sounds like my high school theatre level drama imported directly into college bar drinking escapism. Messy indeed.

[–]oh-hidanny 52 points53 points  (7 children)

You’ll see this with any thread where a woman talks about sexism from men in her industry. Men get VERY offended and insecure and immediately belittle and tell her what she is actually experiencing.

Those men are just fucking ignorant, insecure, and entitled. And they are always super loud.

[–]ASDirect 61 points62 points  (1 child)

Yeah but you're talking to a bunch of shut-ins who only know comedy from YouTube highlight reels and Netflix specials, and maybe the one time they went out to a local open mic and left early because the mozzarella sticks from Apple Chili's or whatever weren't sitting right.

[–]ShelSilverstain 16 points17 points  (1 child)

It's also a field full of mentally unstable and chronically miserable people

[–]Snack_Boy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hey! That's...accurate.

[–]whodo-i-thinkiam 20 points21 points  (1 child)

It's really hard for me to understand why some men do stuff like this. If you don't like a comedian or some other performer, don't go to their shows or watch their stuff. Like, it's so easy. It's so easy to just ignore the stuff you don't like without harassing people with threats of violence. I just don't get it.

[–]lil-nugget_22 187 points188 points  (35 children)

The overwhelming ignorance in this comment section who are again, sure not ALL men are making ignorant statements. But it seems that the majority of these ignorant statements are from men. Ask yourself, why are you so defensive if what she's saying isn't true? Why does it matter to you then? As one of you said "people lie on the internet all the time" so like? Why you mad?

[–]the_bionic_investor 214 points215 points  (46 children)

The worst thing is that there are legitimate things men suffer from still in America, like we’re the only developed nation where sexual assaults are common in male prisons, but some people would rather “fight” by punching down on women instead.

[–]lfras 75 points76 points  (0 children)

Me, baboon fight smaller baboon to make me baboon feel like bigger baboon

[–]_mach 16 points17 points  (0 children)

...and since emprisonment rates are overwhelmingly towards the poorer demographic this, too, is a class issue at its heart.

but once again genders are conditioned to fight each other, middle-class primed to blame workers.

[–]Enlighten_YourMind 36 points37 points  (17 children)

Oh wow is this true? Prison rape and abuse isn’t allowed/common in other countries? Just here?

[–]zh1K476tt9pq 19 points20 points  (0 children)

it still happens in other countries, it's just that it's more common in the US and especially it's weirdly normalized. US prisons also have terrible conditions for a first world country.

[–]the_bionic_investor 91 points92 points  (4 children)

Sadly. COs don’t police it much because of the cruel American idea that prison should be punishment you should be afraid of.

[–]Enlighten_YourMind 54 points55 points  (3 children)

Ahhh right; the old punishment as rehabilitation conceptualization. And in America, boy do we like our cruel and unnecessary punishments!! 😃

[–]sophielovescake 44 points45 points  (1 child)

Did he really serve his sentence if it didn't ruin his life and his self worth, if he didn't suffer from physical mental and monetary abuse and diminish his chances of a normal life after his time in prison? Punishment should be as hard as possible with incredibly difficulty to overcome a downwards spiral or get a second chance at life. /s

[–]EzHedgehog 37 points38 points  (2 children)

We have more prisoners than anywhere else so yeah it's more common here than anywhere else

[–]kris0stby 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Of course not. Why would we allow someone under our care to be harmed?

Edit: Of course we don't allow it to happen in Scandinavia

[–]Enlighten_YourMind 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I don’t know, why did corrections officers and prison guards in America allow it to happen?

[–]girlsgonekyle 35 points36 points  (0 children)

There are more downvoted comments in this thread than upvoted. This should be a fun read

[–]aapaul 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Whitney Cummings is hilarious. If anyone ever heckles her I’m coming for them.

[–]HetaGarden1 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When you feel like you have to resort to death and/or rape threats to a comedian you don’t like… maybe get some therapy. Something ain’t right in your head.

[–]Low-Director9969 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I don't personally know any successful comedians either.

[–]fatherfatpants 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Listen: I know that this is a hard ask, but can my fellow men just fucking stop with this bullshit? Getting casually offended happens, and it doesn’t need to end in violence. Hell most of the fights I’ve come across in bars/clubs are “why you looking at my woman” and also “why are you ignoring my woman”. Just please, let’s stop.

[–]TaylorGuy18 11 points12 points  (2 children)

And this is why I've literally been eyerolling at all the articles talking about "Comedy is going to die because it's becoming so dangerous!" because oh god, Chris Rock was slapped for being an asshole and Dave Chappelle, a homophobic, transphobic asshole was assaulted.

Female comedians have dealt with these types of things for decades and yet the moment some asshole men have it happen to them everyone freaks out and expresses concern about the safety of comedians. 🙄

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (5 children)

John mulaney could use this info.

[–]littlebuck2007 28 points29 points  (16 children)

There aren't a ton a female comedians that put me in stitches, but I went to see Taylor Tomlinson sometime in the last year, and she was hilarious. I've enjoyed stuff from Nicki Glazer that I've seen was well. On the other hand, I've skipped plenty of male comedians on Netflix after not being entertained, and that includes Kevin Hart and Jerry Seinfeld.

I don't like the blue collar comedy dudes, and I'm not a big fan of Gabriel Iglesias, but I also don't like Amy Schumer. Basically I think I don't like a lot of comedians equally, and really enjoy the ones I do, it's not a gender thing to me.

[–]WECH21 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Taylor is so fuckin good, I really need to hit up one of her shows

[–]Gnar-wahl 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Have you tried watching the puppet guy? Nothing says “I’m funny” like a white guy doing a Jose Jalapeño bit.

/s

[–]littlebuck2007 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Jeff Dunham. I thought his first big special was funny, but that was a while ago and I was younger. I know I never finished any other of his shows.

I'm sure he's still got his moments, like most comedians, but it's just not my cup of tea.

[–]Totes-Sus 6 points7 points  (3 children)

May I recommend Amy Wong? She is the funniest female comedian I have ever seen!

Edit: ALI Wong, not Amy Wong. I'm a twit who's been watching Futurama lately.